# In the (first) movie, Jurassic Park, were Grant and Sattler in a relationship? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577 "2010-11-13T18:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/41 "2010-11-15T18:22:29Z")
OK, I decided to pull out my book and point out what I thought was annoying about the little girl in the novel. > [@](#): > > “Your mouth is open,” Lex said. > Tim said, “I know him.” > "“Oh, _sure_. You just met him.” > “No,” Tim said. “I have his book.” > The bearded man said, “What book is that, Tim?” > “Lost World of the Dinosaurs,” said Tim. > Alexis snickered. “Daddy says Tim has dinosaurs on the brain,” she said. > [@](#): > > “Dad says dinosaurs are really stupid,” Lex said. “He says Tim should get out in the air and play more sports.” > Tim felt embarrassed. “I thought you had to go,” he said. > “In a minute,” Lex said. > “I thought you were in such a rush.” > “I’m the one who would know, don’t you think, Timothy?” she said, putting her hands on her hips, copying her mother’s most irritating stance. And then when Tim’s trying to get the computer system up: > [@](#): > > “…You know anything about computers, Tim?” > Tim stared at the screen. Lex nudged him. “Tell him no, Timmy,” she said. > “Yes, some. I know something,” Tim said. > “Might as well try,” Muldoon said. […] > “Timmy,” Lex said. “You just don’t know what to do.” > “Yes, I do.” > “If you know, then do it,” Lex said. > “Just a minute.” > […] > “Well?” she said. > “Something’s wrong,” Tim said, frowning. > “You just don’t know, Timmy,” she said. I mean, I do get that she’s just a kid but she seems like she’ll grow up into an insufferable, ignorant adult who knows nothing about a subject but feels she still has to interject her opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/42 "2010-11-15T18:24:40Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > OK, I decided to pull out my book and point out what I thought was annoying about the little girl in the novel. > > And then when Tim’s trying to get the computer system up: > > I mean, I do get that she’s just a kid but she seems like she’ll grow up into an insufferable, ignorant adult who knows nothing about a subject but feels she still has to interject her opinion. Do you not have siblings? That’s typical younger-sister behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/43 "2010-11-15T18:27:16Z")
I do, but I thought she particularly seemed bratty in a way that would never have been tolerated by my parents growing up. I thought their relationship in the movie was more realistic–they do tease each other but the younger kid wasn’t an asshole or anything. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/44 "2010-11-15T18:34:16Z")
In the book, wasn’t it that the parents had very recently divorced, the kids were living with their mother, and Lex was very attached to her father? IIRC, she even tossed some blame for the father leaving at Tim - if he was into sports instead of dinosaurs, maybe Dad would have stayed. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/45 "2010-11-15T18:36:08Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I do, but I thought she particularly seemed bratty in a way that would never have been tolerated by my parents growing up. I thought their relationship in the movie was more realistic–they do tease each other but the younger kid wasn’t an asshole or anything. Meh. Book-Lex acted around Timmy just like my little sister acted around me at similar ages, and as my baby sister acted around my little sister. (Except that my sisters occasionally got into fistfights when our parents weren’t around.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/46 "2010-11-15T18:40:37Z")
Fist fights? Yikes.:eek: My childhood is looking more and more sheltered. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > In the book, wasn’t it that the parents had very recently divorced, the kids were living with their mother, and Lex was very attached to her father? IIRC, she even tossed some blame for the father leaving at Tim - if he was into sports instead of dinosaurs, maybe Dad would have stayed. **muldoonthief** (very apt username for this thread, incidentally), I do remember that, and you’re right about the divorce/kids living with the mom. I just found the way she went about it really repellent. Though I guess as a fellow sports hater, I was just very prepared to dislike Lex’s “Yay baseball, boo dinosaurs/computers!” attitude. 🙂 I guess we’ve successfully answered whether or not Grant and Sattler were in a relationship. Now how about the mystery of why raptors are strong enough to pull a guy into their cage and eat him (first scene) but by the second movie are weak enough for a ten year old gymnast to destroy? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/47 "2010-11-15T18:46:20Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Fist fights? Yikes.:eek: My childhood is looking more and more sheltered. > > **muldoonthief** (very apt username for this thread, incidentally), I do remember that, and you’re right about the divorce/kids living with the mom. I just found the way she went about it really repellent. Though I guess as a fellow sports hater, I was just very prepared to dislike Lex’s “Yay baseball, boo dinosaurs/computers!” attitude. 🙂 > > I guess we’ve successfully answered whether or not Grant and Sattler were in a relationship. Now how about the mystery of why raptors are strong enough to pull a guy into their cage and eat him (first scene) but by the second movie are weak enough for a ten year old gymnast to destroy? That one’s never bothered me; it was just leverage and balance. The raptor was in a position that left it vulnerable. There’s no suggestion that Malcolm’s little girl was anything other than lucky. A better question: Why does the great white hunter walk along with his rifle barrel up during a rainstorm? I’d ask why the Vince Vaughn character disappears from the third act, were it not obvious that Malcolm and Harding (the Julianne Mooore character) pushed him out of the helicopter once he revealed that he [del]murdered half of the group[/del] stole the great white hunter’s bullets. As for the fist fights: It wasn’t an everyday thing. It was more that hostilities would build up over months, and on four or five Saturday afternoons I can recall, when I was the oldest person in the house, they would simmer at one another for a few hours, exchange glares, and then get up and go to their bedroom to exchange punches. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/48 "2010-11-15T18:47:22Z")
And why does Sarah Harding have no idea that walking around in a bloody vest is maybe not such a great idea? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/49 "2010-11-15T18:55:07Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > And why does Sarah Harding have no idea that walking around in a bloody vest is maybe not such a great idea? Fool of a – :: pauses to consider :: – herptetologist! [She is Julianne Moore](http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/06/01-07/tn2_julianne_moore_2.jpg). Therefore it is impossible for anything she does to be in error. Any appearance of error is a mistake on YOUR part. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/50 "2010-11-15T20:44:50Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I mean, I do get that she’s just a kid but she seems like she’ll grow up into an insufferable, ignorant adult who knows nothing about a subject but feels she still has to interject her opinion. In other words, she was a typical female in a Crichton novel? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/51 "2010-11-15T20:51:10Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > In other words, she was a typical female in a Crichton novel? Ellie Satler is nothing like that. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/52 "2010-11-15T21:01:24Z")
I’m with \*\*Freudian \*\*on this one, the girl was hellanoxious in the book, Iwanted to pitch her to a dinosaur to help cover our escape. She was obnoxious long before she was scared. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/53 "2010-11-15T21:05:08Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > In other words, she was a typical female in a Crichton novel? As **Skald** mentions, Sattler wasn’t that way. Neither was the novel version of Sarah Harding. She makes some really bone headed decisions in the Lost World movie but in the book, she helps save Ian Malcolm in the trailer park going over the cliff incident, and she’s much more hard nosed. (When the gang finds the hurt baby Rex, it’s Eddie Carr who wants to save it and Sarah who says to kill it to put it out of its misery.) > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Fool of a – > > :: pauses to consider :: > > – herptetologist! > [She is Julianne Moore](http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/06/01-07/tn2_julianne_moore_2.jpg). Therefore it is impossible for anything she does to be in error. Any appearance of error is a mistake on YOUR part. So which version of Clarice Starling do you prefer? The one in Silence (Jodie Foster) or the one in Hannibal (Julianne Moore)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/54 "2010-11-15T21:10:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > As **Skald** mentions, Sattler wasn’t that way. Neither was the novel version of Sarah Harding. She makes some really bone headed decisions in the Lost World movie but in the book, she helps save Ian Malcolm in the trailer park going over the cliff incident, and she’s much more hard nosed. (When the gang finds the hurt baby Rex, it’s Eddie Carr who wants to save it and Sarah who says to kill it to put it out of its misery.) > > So which version of Clarice Starling do you prefer? The one in Silence (Jodie Foster) or the one in Hannibal (Julianne Moore)? 😃 As I am not currently prepared to concede that any sequels to _Silence of the Lambs_ were even written, much less made into movies, I cannot answer this question. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/55 "2010-11-15T21:14:27Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Ellie Satler is nothing like that. Sorry - I meant book Lexie. Ellie is about the only female in a Crichton novel whom I remember liking. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/56 "2010-11-15T21:39:32Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > I’m with \*\*Freudian \*\*on this one, the girl was hellanoxious in the book, Iwanted to pitch her to a dinosaur to help cover our escape. She was obnoxious long before she was scared. Eh, in the book Tim & Lex were 11 & 8, I think? I happen to have a 10 year old & 8 year old at home (both girls though). Believe me when I say that Lex was a model of kindness and restraint when compared to my 8 year old. Her main purpose in life is to torture her older sister. And she doesn’t even have velociraptors chasing after her. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/57 "2010-11-15T22:31:47Z")
It’s been a long time since I read the book, but I don’t remember Lex being a character at all, more of a Macguffin. She doesn’t really do anything; she just needs to be protected. Which is probably pretty realistic for an eight-year-old being chased by carnasaurs, anyway. More realistic than the 11-year-old hacker. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/58 "2010-11-15T23:49:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s been a long time since I read the book, but I don’t remember Lex being a character at all, more of a Macguffin. She doesn’t really do anything; she just needs to be protected. Which is probably pretty realistic for an eight-year-old being chased by carnasaurs, anyway. More realistic than the 11-year-old hacker. The prescriptivist in me would say that she’s not a MacGuffin, because she’s not the object of anyone’s quest. In fact there is no MacGuffin in this story, becuase everything the people are pursuing has some true purpose. There’s a specific, explicit, rational reason for everything Grant does in trying to get himself and the kids out of the woods and into the camp; nothing is arbitrary. But that’s just the narrow-minded prescriptivist part of me. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/59 "2010-11-16T05:41:15Z")
Ok, as is my habit, sometimes, when participating in a Cafe Society thread, I rented JP tonight. I’m \<15 min into it and I’m confident that Satler and Grant are burying the bone as well as digging 'em up. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577/60 "2010-11-16T16:58:51Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Ok, as is my habit, sometimes, when participating in a Cafe Society thread, I rented JP tonight. I’m \<15 min into it and I’m confident that Satler and Grant are burying the bone as well as digging 'em up. Since you watched it last night: was it also your impression that the relationship was on the rocks (whether either of them was aware of that or not)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-first-movie-jurassic-park-were-grant-and-sattler-in-a-relationship/560577.md?page=4)